Mini Bio (1)

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He directed a string of successful films, including Tramlijn Begeerte (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), and De verloren zoon (1955). During his career, he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Honorary Oscar, won three Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.

His films were concerned with personal or social issues of special concern to him. Kazan writes, "I don't move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme." His first such "issue" film was Gentleman's Agreement (1947), with Gregory Peck, which dealt with anti-Semitism in America. It received 8 Oscar nominations and three wins, including Kazan's first for Best Director. It was followed by Pinky (1949), one of the first films in mainstream Hollywood to address racial prejudice against black people. Tramlijn Begeerte (1951), an adaptation of the stage play which he had also directed, received 12 Oscar nominations, winning four, and was Marlon Brando's breakthrough role. In 1954, he directed On the Waterfront (1954), a film about union corruption on the New York harbor waterfront. In 1955, he directed John Steinbeck's De verloren zoon (1955), which introduced James Dean to movie audiences.

A turning point in Kazan's career came with his testimony as a witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 at the time of the Hollywood blacklist, which brought him strong negative reactions from many liberal friends and colleagues. His testimony helped end the careers of former acting colleagues Morris Carnovsky and Art Smith, along with ending the work of playwright Clifford Odets. Kazan later justified his act by saying he took "only the more tolerable of two alternatives that were either way painful and wrong." Nearly a half-century later, his anti-Communist testimony continued to cause controversy. When Kazan was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999, dozens of actors chose not to applaud as 250 demonstrators picketed the event.

Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and 1960s with his provocative, issue-driven subjects. Director Stanley Kubrick called him, "without question, the best director we have in America, and capable of performing miracles with the actors he uses." On September 28, 2003, Elia Kazan died at age 94 of natural causes at his apartment in Manhattan, New York City. Martin Scorsese co-directed the documentary film A Letter to Elia (2010) as a personal tribute to Kazan.

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Trivia (29)

His selection for an Honorary Oscar angered many in the filmmaking community on account of his being among the first to cooperate with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1952, which led to the blacklisting that ruined many careers in Hollywood because of their political beliefs, and that Kazan had publicly stated that he had no regrets for that action. In response, there were loud protests against his selection for the award and some attendees of the awards ceremony, such as Nick Nolte and Ed Harris, stayed in their seats and refused to applaud when he received the award. However, others both stood and applauded Kazan, such as Warren Beatty, Meryl Streep, Helen Hunt, Karl Malden, Kurt Russell and Kathy Baker. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese presented the honorary Oscar to Kazan.

In 1956, Kazan received his third Tony Award nomination for Best Director. This nomination was for his directing the play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

In 1958, Kazan received his fourth Tony Award nomination for Best Director. He was also nominated that same year in the category of Best Play along with co-producer Arnold Saint Subber. Both nominations were for the play "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs".

In 1958, Kazan won his third Tony Award for Best Director -- for the play ''J.B.''.

In 1960, Kazan he was nominated for his seventh Tony Award. This was his last nomination, and it was for the play "Sweet Bird of Youth".

Screenwriter Budd Schulberg, who won an Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954), told Fox News (1987) in October 2003 that he had seen Kazan in September, just before his death at age 94. He claimed that Kazan was still complaining that Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century-Fox had passed on making "Waterfront".

Kazan won three Tony Awards for Best Director: for Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" (1947); for for Miller's "Death of a Salesman" (1949); and for Archibald Macleish's "J.B." (1959). He was also nominated for Tony Awards four other times: as Best Director, for Tennessee Williams's play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1956); as Best Director and co-producer of the Best Play nominee, William Inge's "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1958); and as Best Director (Dramatic) for Tennessee Williams's "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1960).

Despite having had two cinematic successes with Tennessee Williams works Tramlijn Begeerte (1951) and Baby Doll (1956), Kazan did not direct the movie version of Kat op een heet zinken dak (1958), although he won a Tony Award nomination as Best Director for staging Williams's Pulitizer Prize-winning play on Broadway. Richard Brooks directed the film. During the play's production, Kazan had had trouble with Williams, and Kazan eventually demanded that Williams rewrite the second act of the play to bring Big Daddy back on stage. Williams complied, but he had Big Daddy tell what Kazan felt was the equivalent of a dirty joke, possibly out of pique at Kazan.

Sidney Lumet on Kazan: "What moves me most about his work is his pioneering spirit. Emotions, passions were put up on the screen. That Mediterranean release is responsible for a lot of what we're doing today.".

Attended Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut before moving to New York City.

Attended and graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts (1931).

Personal Quotes (20)

[on James Dean] Dean's body was very graphic; it was almost writhing in pain sometimes. He was very twisted, as if he were cringing all the time. Dean was a cripple anyway, inside--he was not like [Marlon Brando]. People compared them, but there was no similarity. He was a far, far sicker kid and Brando's not sick, he's just troubled.

[on John Ford] Orson Welles was once asked which American directors most appealed to him. "The old masters," he replied. "By which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford." Well, I studied Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), for example. As I say, John Ford had a big influence on me.

[on Kirk Douglas] He fits into being an advertising man and a driving, ruthless person better than [Marlon Brando] could have. You would always suspect Brando. Kirk's awfully bright. He's as bright a person as I've met in the acting profession.

[on James Cagney] I learned something from Jimmy Cagney--he taught me quite a lot about acting. Jimmy taught me some things about being honest and not overdoing it. He even affected my work with [Marlon Brando] a little bit. I mean, "Don't show it, just do it."

[on Faye Dunaway] Faye carries a cloud of drama round with her. There is something in her at hazard.

[on working with Marlon Brando] Every word seemed not something memorized but the spontaneous expression of an inner experience--which is the level of work all actors strive to reach.

[on Marlon Brando's performance in On the Waterfront (1954)] If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don't know what it is

[on Franchot Tone] He died before he should have and without fulfilling his promise or his hopes.

Lee Strasberg was God almighty, he was always right, only he could tell if an actor had had it--the real thing--or not. To win Lee's favor and the reassurance it would convey was everyone's goal.

So it goes in America: great plans in youth, realism at the end.

[at the Group Theater, 1932] I think Franchot Tone takes pleasure in upsetting the chalice of high art here. You can't help admiring him. He's better educated, just plain smarter, than most of the others and has greater curiosity about life and boldness in dealing with his desires. I like him. Perhaps some of the self-righteous members think of Tone as a sinner because he wakes the sinner in them... Meanwhile, he continues as the chink in their idealism. He does what he wants and isn't a bit docile. He believe in the Group idea but is not sure it's for him; he asks questions. Despite all, the directors admire him. He could burn the place down and still be the white-haired boy. He's the only really top-grade actor here--in my opinion--and that's the problem. I mean, that's their problem, the directors: how to hold people of his talent and temperament while they get rid of three or four duds they've got here who believe! Oh, how those mediocrities believe! Oh, how they listen to Lee Strasberg and nod and smile at his quips. Me, too.

Fredric March was as warmhearted and genuine a man as ever lived... Poor, blacklisted Freddie was no more a Communist than my cat.

[on the labored introspection demanded of students in Actors Studio workshops] There have been days when I felt like I would swap them all for a gang of wandering players who could dance and sing, and who were, above all else, entertainers.

[on the possibility of casting Paul Newman as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954)] This boy will definitely be a film star. He's just as good looking as [Marlon Brando] and his masculinity, which is strong, is also more actual. He's not as good an actor as Brando yet, and probably will never be. But he's a darn good actor with plenty of power, plenty of insides, plenty of sex.

[from a letter to John Steinbeck, while casting De verloren zoon (1955)] I looked through a lot of kids before settling on this [James Dean]. He hasn't [Marlon Brando]'s stature, but he's a good deal younger and is very interesting, has balls and eccentricity and a "real problem" somewhere in his guts, I don't know what or where. He's a little bit of a bum, but he's a real good actor and I think he's the best of a poor field. Most kids who become actors at 19 or 20 or 21 are very callow and strictly from NY professional school. Dean has got a real mean streak and a real sweet streak.